St. Michael-Albertville Girls' Swim Team Pulls off Shock of the Season

The sports season is young, but the St. Michael-Albertville girls' swim team may have pulled out the stunner of the year Thursday night.

For the first time in recent history, the Knights knocked off the Monticello Magic girls' swim team in a conference battle.

In historical terms, the Magic have more conference banners than they do room in the Monticello Middle School pool area. The team only hangs Section and State banners now for the girls' squad.

This year, it appears the Knights have the inside track to their first-ever crown. But a battle with Buffalo still awaits.

Thursday, St. Michael-Albertville's girls set four pool records, led by young Kasey Roberts and two strong relay teams.

In fact, the meet came down to a final swim, with the Knights bringing home the meet in heart-stopping fashion, according to coach Tom Gillou.

"The meet came down to the final event. With the score 86.5 to 85.5 before the 400 freestyle relay, the Knights had to win the event to win the meet. The team of Katie Schmitz, Carly Roberts, Tayler Pehrson and Kasey Roberts came up big with a win in a new pool record time of 3:43.20," he said in an e-mail after the meet. "Amazing."

Other wins for the Knights came from Heil in the 100 freestyle and Roberts in the 100 breaststroke. But it was the Knights' depth, taking second and third in relays they didn't win and outperforming the Magic's supporting cast, that keyed the victory.

"It's always kind of been Monticello and everybody else," said senior Morgan Haeska. "But we think we can be right there with Monticello and Buffalo this season."

Now, it's the Knights' conference to lose.

The big swim will be next Thursday at Buffalo, with a starting time of 6 p.m. Then, the Knights will compete in the True Team Section 5AA meet on Saturday, Oct. 15.